BOSTON — There is no more polarizing term in college basketball than “one and done.” Often, the two happiest days in a coach’s year are when such a player commits, and when he leaves.
There’s a certain connotation.
“You would think those guys are arrogant, entitled,” Hassan Diarra said. “But this kid right here? None of those things.”
The kid right there to Diarra’s left in the locker room Thursday was Stephon Castle, just off one of the best games of his first, and likely last season at UConn, fresh off the first double-double of his career, 16 points and 11 rebounds in the Huskies’ 82-52 victory over San Diego State in the NCAA Round of 16.
UConn men pull away, advance to Elite Eight with 82-52 rout of San Diego State
“His will to work, his will to learn, his work ethic,” Diarra said. “I’m just so proud of how far he came this year. Battled through injuries, how he’s learned the game so much, evolved his game. He’s just an amazing player. He was the driving force to our gaining confidence in that second half, getting on the glass the way he did, gave us confidence that we would be attacking just like him. Not many times you see a freshman lead the way, especially on a team of older guys.”
It takes more than two to tango as magnificently as the UConn men’s basketball team is right now, but in this case it takes two sides. On one side, a team of older players, some in their fifth year of college, some with a championship ring in their possession, willing to be open to a freshman with a big-time reputation, not prejudge him as being all those things Diarra talked about. And on the other, it took Castle to be, in coach Dan Hurley’s word choice, “a pleaser.”
“He’s the antithesis of how a lot of highly recruited, five-star players come into college,” Hurley said.
Castle, 6 feet 6, has been in NBA mock drafts predating his commitment to play at UConn, some having him going in the lottery-pick range, others opining he could slip into the 20s. Unless he hears something unexpected in the predraft feedback, Castle is going to be UConn’s second one-and-done, the first since Andre Drummond in 2012.
Drummond, too, came to UConn the year after a national championship. His one season as a Husky was not memorable, though he has gone on to have a solid career in the NBA. One-and-dones were all the rage back then, when it looked like Kentucky, Duke and Kansas would hold a monopoly on getting them, and a monopoly on championships. It has not worked out that way, of course. Many one-and-dones prove not to be as good, as a college or pro player, as they were believed to be; many “have their bags packed” midway through their college season.
This kid right here? Stephon Castle? None of that. And the veterans have embraced him as their insanely talented little brother, Tristen Newton teeing him up for dunks again and again, sometimes with half-court lobs against San Diego State.
Impressive two-way display by UConn freshman Stephon Castle tonight in the NCAA Tournament. 16 points, 11 rebounds, a pair of assists, and tenacious defense by the 19-year-old in the Elite 8 clinching victory. pic.twitter.com/jfydJ5hvX6
— League Him (@League_Him) March 29, 2024
“I feel like me and Tristen have a lot of chemistry that way,” Castle said. “That’s not the first one he’s thrown. He threw one yesterday to me in practice, He’s a great passer, and I feel like he has the confidence in me to go get it.”
This UConn team, now one win away from the Final Four and three from a repeat as national champ, is so good, it can appear to be struggling, as it did for a little more than half the game Thursday, and still be leading by double digits. Castle killed it in the second half at both ends of the floor, joining Newton and Cam Spencer, both fifth-year seniors, and Diarra, in his fourth year, to turn the lights out on the Aztecs.
“Steph’s got veteran players that aren’t threatened by him in these mock drafts,” Hurley said. “and all of his abilities and talent. We don’t have that petty stuff in our program. We just have a great group of people that support each other.
Okay, but a pleaser? Castle’s big brothers couldn’t help but rib him a little about that as they walked from the podium back to the locker room.
“That was crazy,” Newton said. “He’s never said that one before. I guess Steph’s a good pleaser and he’s, uh … yeah.”
Said Castle, “I feel like he just means I’m very coachable, do whatever I have to do on the floor and not have any complaints. .. I feel like I’ve been like that my whole life. (The one-and-done projections) wasn’t something I was trying to run away from, trying to hide from. It’s not forced, it’s 100-percent natural, I’m a 100-percent team guy. I just want to win. I’d never won anything before. I don’t win a state championship in high school, so who would I be to come in here like a five-star and disagree with what coach is asking? He’s won before, so I’m trying to follow in his footsteps. Just trying to be coached.”
Hurley landed Castle, from Covington, Ga., by convincing him and his family that at UConn, he would be part of a winning team, and in the course of winning, he would “organically” develop his game to NBA level. Again, it took two sides to buy into that, and that is exactly what is happening.
A different kind of five-star: UConn’s Stephon Castle gets his humility from home
“Through the year, a coaching talked about Brooklyn, Boston and Phoenix,” Castle said, tracking the route of the No.1 overall seed through the East Regional to the Final Four, a destination. “And now we’re living it. It’s been super surreal, super fun, and I feel like I’ve gotten everything out of this year that I can so far.”
Maybe Castle’s numbers, 10.8 points, 4.4 assists, 2.9 assists per game, aren’t overwhelming, but he gets the loose balls and impacts games in ways that don’t show up in a box score, also unusual for a young player of this type. Can championships be won with a one-and-done? Hurley said UConn has “found the formula.”
It can be done, when it’s this kind of one and done, when it’s this kid right here.
“Steph has never mentioned that,” Newton said. “He’s just embraced his role. He never came here with that mentality, he came here to say, ‘I’m going to play my role and help you guys win, and that’s what he’s doing.”